Starc to Head, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Starc to Head, no run, oh dear!

Head and Abhishek Sharma are at the crease. Head is on strike. Starc will open the attack

Right! The fireworks go up as the players stride out to the centre

Abhishek Sharma: (On the excitement of playing in the playoffs) As an individual, it happens a lot but the way the environment is in the team, we all are taking it as a next game and it’s a special thing of a champion team. We knew our roles very well from the start, we decided to play aggressive cricket and dominate be it in batting or bowling. The management is really supportive and that helps us to play our natural game. It feels good to watch their match as they have a very competitive team, they are without one of their players so that can be an advantage for us as we are playing with the same combination. It’s mixed soil, black and red and that suits our team, whenever we come to Ahmedabad it’s usually a high-scoring game.

Here are the Impact substitutes for both the teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, KS Bharat, Sherfaine Rutherford

Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Sanvir Singh, Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Jaydev Unadkat

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan

Shreyas Iyer: I would have loved to bowl. I had a chat with the curator and he said it's a mixed soil, let's see how it plays, hoping for a good game. Important that we keep the momentum going and stay in the present.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have won the toss and have opted to bat

Cummins:

Sunrisers Hyderabad have won the toss and have opted to bat

Andre Russell: Feeling very good, I think we have been having a tremendous season, this is where all the teams strive to reach, we have a good thing going, I hope tonight we can keep playing some good positive cricket. (Having not played a game after 11th May due to inclement weather) We are still focused, we have no control over the weather, we were prepared to play warm-up and everything, the energy was still there. It looks like it’s going to be an amazing night tonight, no weather around, we are ready to play some cricket. I’m in good nick, I have been hitting the ball well, I missed out on a few innings where I could have pushed the score more. With the balance in the team, it gives me the confidence to go out and play my shots. We have Rinku and Ramandeep behind, who can hit sixes and do what I do, it gives me freedom. Bowling as well, I’m happy to come on when the captain needs me and I’m doing a decent job with the ball. We have done some homework and we need to keep things simple. When you are under the pump as a bowling group, the opponent want you to try too many things and with a six-hitting team like this, they expect you to do something different. Once we stick to our lengths, big ground here tonight, we are going to utilise as much as we can and restrict them.

Pitch and dimensions: The outfield is green and lush. The square boundaries are 63 metres each while it is 70 metres down the ground. The pitch looks a touch dry. Will suit bowlers who will use the off-pace deliveries. In some areas, around the good length, there's a bit of moisture, but it is hard. The power-hitters will play a major role here, looks like a good batting wicket. Won't spin much, reckons Matthew Hayden.

What happened the last time these two sides met? Mayank Agarwal received a flying kiss from Harshit Rana. That's how most SRH fans would like to remember that, as the contest saw both teams pushed into a nervy corner as momentum swung like a pendulum. In the end, when SRH had a mountain to climb in the last 4 overs, Klaasen went berserk and nearly pulled off the game for his side. Inexperienced and under pressure, Harshit Rana didn't panic as he bowled a splendid final over to help his side get off to a winning start to the season. It was that victory that started KKR's rise and they barely looked back after that, with 9 wins from 14 games (2 were washed out).

Standing in their way are the men from the city of joy, the Kolkata Knight Riders. A team that has a rich history of making 6 playoffs from 8 seasons (2011-2018). Quite interestingly, KKR never finished at the bottom of the table and to put the icing on the cake, this is the first team they finished number one on the table in their history. And a reminder that, this is only their second entry into playoffs in the last 6 seasons. The last time they made it to the playoffs, they reached the IPL final only to end runners up to CSK. Can they go one step better this time around and bring home their 3rd title? It's been 10 years since they won the trophy. And the "KORBO LORBO JEETBO" fans have an extra reason to cheer this season. Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of KKR. His association with the franchise holds a special slot for every Purple fan. Is this the season for KKR?

Hurt, bruised and hungry - The mood of all SRH fans over the last three years. While the fact that their franchise didn't make it to the playoffs stung real hard, it's the 'wooden-spoon' tag (2021 & 2023) that left the biggest scar. How could a franchise that once had a history of "five successive playoff seasons" sink that low? David Warner controversy. Change of captaincy. Change of coaches. Change of jersey. Team going from bad to worse with each passing season. It surely wasn't a pleasant phase for any Sunrisers' fan. And here comes the best part. Despite all those lows, the fans turned in great numbers this season in Hyderabad and rallied behind the team like those 3 years never existed. One of the promising superstars of Indian cricket, Abhishek Sharma, was so moved (acknowledged it on SM) by the support he received from the SRH fans, that he along with many other players made sure they offered something in return for the fans by winning 5 out of 7 (one game was a washout) home games this year. Now that they made it to the playoffs, how about winning the qualifier 1 and claim the "finals slot" for the third time in their 12-year history?